Welcome back, folks.  Lots of stuff going on – some good books, some bad books, and in a stunner a returning book – because I just can’t keep my mouth shut.  But first, on to the news, here at:

August 28th, 2016

• Civil War II Extra Issue: I’m getting vibes of Secret Wars here.  It also worries me that four issues in and Mr. Bendis has found a “better ending” for the story that has been at least a year in the planning.  
• Runways: Hulu is getting in on the superhero business with Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s Runaways – which was a great series.  Hopefully they’ll get it right.
• Invincible: Robert Kirkman is ending the first of his long running series in the next year.  Think it will be a happy ending?
• Return of the Caped Crusaders: This is going to be so awesome!
• Iron Heart: So it will be a new character in an old series?  Ok, so this works a little bit better for me.  This is like when Steel replaced Superman – he became a great character.  Though he had the benefit of not being written by Mr. Bendis.
• Youngblood: Rob Liefeld has announced that Youngblood will return to Image in 2017.  And he’s not drawing it.
• DC All-Access: DC will be doing a 12 hour event on Friday.  Wonder what they’ll be announcing?

 

Archie Comics
Boom! Studios
Dark Horse
DC Comics
Dynamite Entertainment
IDW Publishing
Image Comics
Marvel Comics
Oni Press
Valiant Entertainment

 

Book(s) of the Month

Captain Marvel #8 (Marvel)
Written by Ruth Fletcher Gage and Christos Gage with art by Kris Anka and Andy Wilson
So this is The Gages trying very hard to make Captain Marvel look like less of an ass than Mr. Bendis is writing her.  They give her doubts about her missions, gave voice to the legal ramifications, and showed a more personal story for Captain Marvel to deal with.  The character comes off much better here under the deft hands of the Gages than she has under the guidance of Mr. Bendis.  And while the case for Captain Marvel’s decisions isn’t made any easier to defend, at least here she doesn’t come across as a villain.

 

Books I want to discuss

Steve Rogers: Captain America #4
Written by Nick Spencer with art by Javier Pina, Miguel Sepulveda, and Rachelle Rosenburg
VILLAIN
So I dropped out of Steve Rogers: Captain America after the first issue, but after hearing a couple of things about this issue, I had to read it.  And I have finally figured out why this bothered me so much – it’s not because it’s a bad story idea, it’s not.  It’s not because the writing’s bad, the writing is mediocre – really good writing could probably elevate this pretty well.  But my problem is the rewrite of Captain America’s history, Hyrda was put in front of America.  His parents are both dead and now he is raised from a young age by a American Hydra agent – but Hyrda at no point in comics has ever been anything more than a terrorist organization bent on ruling the world.  Why would Steve put America and freedom above all else to become Captain America with this upbringing? The amount of ring jumping to get everything to line up exactly right is ridiculous.  There were better and less convoluted ways to make Captain America an agent of Hydra outside of changing his entire history.  The worst part of all of this though is that I can see where it’s going.  Between the predictions, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, and Kobiak, Captain America – everything will lead to the next “event” book where it will be one group of newly created Hydra heroes against the non-converted.  And I’m really tired of the hero versus hero thing.

 

Just a quick word about these

All-New Wolverine #11 (Marvel): So this is less of a commentary about this particular book and more about the Civil War II books in general.  They keep saying that Ulysses’s powers aren’t self-fulfilling, but they don’t seem to know how to tell any other story with his power – almost all of the tie-ins are self-fulfilling including this one.  I just think that this an example of the Marvel Bullpen not understanding what Mr. Bendis is actually up to – again.
Archie #11 (Archie): This is a great book – I almost wish that the upcoming Riverdale show would follow this.  The artist changed this month which is a shame, but I can’t wait until next issue.
Civil War II: The Fallen (Marvel): Yay, another Marvel funeral.  Though I really want Mr. Pak to write the Hulk again.
Deathstroke #1 (DC): This was great and made me care about Deathstroke for the first time in a while.
Detective Comics #939 (DC):  This was the BEST Tim Drake moment in YEARS.  Even from before Rebirth this was amazing.  I almost stood up and cheered.
E.V.I.L. Heroes #1 (Zenescope): Wow.  For a minute there, we were going to straight rip off of the Justice League.  Then monster forms save it.  Not too bad, but needs a lot of exposition going forward.
Mosaic Prelude #1 (Marvel): This should be really be called Mosaic Please Care.  Cause even after this – I still don’t.
New Avengers #15 (Marvel): Subtitles make all the difference in this series.

 

You should check these books out

Action Comics #962 (DC); Aquaman #5 (DC); Batgirl #2 (DC); Batman #5 (DC); Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #1 (DC); Black Hammer #2 (Image); Black Widow #6 (Marvel); Blue Beetle Rebirth #1 (DC); Doctor Fate #15 (DC); Faith #2 (Valiant); The Flash #5 (DC); Generation Zero #1 (Valiant); Ghostbusters International #8 (IDW); Green Lanterns #5 (DC); Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #3 (DC); Justice League #3 (DC); Legends of Tomorrow #6 (DC); The Mighty Thor #10 (Marvel); Mockingbird #6 (Marvel); Power Man and Iron Fist #7 (Marvel); Spider-Woman #10 (Marvel); Supergirl Rebirth #1 (DC); Superman #5 (DC); Wonder Woman #5 (DC)

 

You can skip these

Back to the Future #11 (IDW); Civil War II: Amazing Spider-Man #3 (Marvel); Kingsway West #1 (Dark Horse); Nightwing #3 (DC); Scooby Apocalypse #4 (DC); Ultimates #10 (Marvel)

 

Neither good or bad.  Just kind of there.

Civil War II: Choosing Sides #4 (Marvel); Civil War II: God of War #3 (Marvel); Green Arrow #5 (DC); Harley Quinn #2 (DC); Harley’s Little Black Book #4 (DC); The Hellblazer #1 (DC); Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers Annual #1 (IDW); Poe Dameron #5 (Marvel); Star Wars #22 (Marvel); Suicide Squad #1 (DC); Titans #2 (DC); Wild Card #5 (Dynamite); Xena #4 (Dynamite)